Woman pulled over by police impersonator

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying a police impersonator who stopped a female motorist at about 10 p.m. Monday on Laurel Road near Clinton.

by Russel Langley/The Oak Ridger

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying a police impersonator who stopped a female motorist at about 10 p.m. Monday on Laurel Road near Clinton. The impersonator pulled over the unidentified female victim while she was driving by using a red flashing light on his dashboard, which he turned off after he and the woman stopped their vehicles. The victim told the Sheriff’s Department that the impersonator spoke with a deep “country” voice, according to the news release. After she stopped her car, he reportedly approached the vehicle and asked to see her driver’s license and search her car. According to the release, when the victim’s cell phone rang the suspect said she was “free to go” and left traveling on Laurel Road toward Clinton.The release described the suspect’s vehicle as a dark-colored, late ’90s Chevrolet Lumina. The victim described the suspect as a white male, mid-30s to mid-40s, 5-feet-10-inches to 5-feet-11 inches tall, about 200 pounds, with a stomach that hung slightly over his belt. According to the release, he had ear- length brown hair, combed to one side, balding on top of the head with a receding hairline and a graying mustache. He was wearing a white button-up shirt with dark dress pants and a gold- or brass-colored badge on the left side of his shirt and a revolver in a dark-colored soft holster hanging on his right side. Anyone having information on this incident is asked to call Sgt. Jeff Davis of the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Unit at (865) 457-6255, extension 1141, or the Communications Center at (865) 457-2414. The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is reminding motorists that if they are unsure if they are being pulled over by an actual law enforcement officer, they should turn on their hazard flashers, call 911, and slowly drive to a well-lighted area such as a business or store before stopping.Russel Langley can be reached at (865) 220-5514.